1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication control device, a communication control method, and a communication control system that displays user operation screen at a remote location.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years have seen a rise in electronic products that receive information from external sources by connecting to network. Particularly, network is rapidly becoming an integral part of a typical office, and working by connecting electronic devices present in the office to network is often sought.
An image forming apparatus that functions as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, and a scanner (hereinafter, “a multifunction product (MFP)”) is an example of such an electronic device used in an office. The MFP equipped with a storage device has been developed recently so that image data input into the image forming apparatus can be stored and read later.
The MFP equipped with a network connection interface to facilitate connecting to network has also been developed in view of the demand for operations over network. Thus, devices like the MFP come equipped with communication control functions. In this context, it has also become possible to monitor various devices via network.
For example, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-162399 (hereinafter, “first document”), status information of an image forming apparatus can be collected by a monitoring device and sent to a server at a remote monitoring center over network.
A technology by which the MFP can be remote-operated from a personal computer (PC) connected to the MFP via network has been proposed in a publication titled “Canon: iR C5870 Remote Operation”, [online], [found on Feb. 11, 2006], <URL: http://cweb.canon.jp/color-ir/lineup/irc5870/management/operation.html> (hereinafter, “second document”). This technology enables an administrator to check the status of the MFP from the PC, and intervene on behalf of the user if the user faces some problem concerning the operation of the MFP.
However, while the technology disclosed in the first document is useful for identifying errors, the disadvantage is that the administrator at a remote location is unable to appropriately address queries raised by the user as the screen at the user-end is not available at the administrator-end.
In the technology disclosed in the second document, the administrator can view the liquid crystal touch panel being looked up by the user. However, there is a likelihood of a plurality of users logged into the MFP at any given time. Though it is possible for individual users to operate the MFP from their individual PC, the administrator can only look up the liquid crystal touch panel. In other words, the administrator is unable to view the screen being looked up by every user that has logged into the MFP, as there is no user selection menu available.